Water-meter.



J. M. BURTON.

. `WA'ILB IETER. APPLIOATIOI NLE!) IA! 10, T018.

Patented Mar. 31, 1914.-

2 BHEETHBBET 1.

ILUIIIA MMIII "-.WAINMml l- Il J. M. BURTON.

WATER METER.

Arrmornox rma 11m10.191s.

1,091,481. mem man 31, 1914 F0 l 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEETcE.

JAMES m. BURTON, 'Lor NEWYonanfim` Y.,"A'ss1NoR To NEPTUNE METER COMPANY, 0E NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION oF NEW JERSEY.

WATER-METERh specification offrettersrateat. Patented Mar, 31, 1914,

Application tiled May 10, 1913. Serial No. 766,722.

To all whom. it may concern.'

Be it known that I, JAMES M. BUn'noN, a citizen of the United States, residing 1n Long Island City, in the borough of Queens of the city of New York, in the tate of New York, have invented certain new and use ful Improvements in Water-Meters, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawlngs, forming a part hereof.

This invention relates to devices for preventing the operation of water meters from being interfered with by foreign substances, such as algae, chips, leaves, etc., and especially to devices for this purpose which are adapted for use with inferentxal meters which employ turbine wheels. In `meters of this character algae, chips, dead leaves, etc., are apt to lodge on the edges of the blades of the turbine wheel or wheels and so reduce the mean area of the passage between the blades and cause the wheels to rotate at a higher rate of speed and the meter to regis' ter correspondingly higher.

It is an object of this invention to provlde means disposed operatively with relation to the inflowmg water and the turbine wheel or wheels so that the foreign substances above referred to will be constantly scraped from the edges of the turbine wheels and disintegrated so as to permit their free passage between the blades of the wheels.

In accordance with the invention a scraper of suitable form is secured within thel meter casing adjacent to the edge or end of the wheel or wheels so as to dislodge foreign substances which tend to accumulate on t e ed es of the blades. The scraper ispreferf ab y so positioned that it not only dislodges the foreign substances from the edges of the blades but also cuts such substances as algae,- which drape themselves over the edgesl of?A ed 'within the meter casing asto .constitute deiectors, so' that theyishallconstantly-.defv

fiect' theV foreign 'substances fror'nj'theiproximity of the inner wall of the meter chamber, where they naturally travel under the iniuence of centrifugal force, toward the center of the turbine wheel and over the stop plate'. By this arrangement the foreign substances are brought into contact with ttlie scrapers several times and until they are disintegrated sufficiently to pass through the turbine wheel.

Reference is now to be had to the accompan ing drawings for a detailed description of t e invention, in Which- Figure 1 is a view in vertical section of a water meter of the turbine wheel type provided With the present invention, the casing of the registering device being shown in clevation. Fig. 2 1s a detail view in section through the cages on the plane indicated by the line'2-2 of Fig. 1, the Scrapers being shown in lan. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view in vertica section of the intermediate cham- 4ber of a meter of the type shown in Fig. 1

and provided with a modified form of the invention. Fig. 4 is a sectional View taken on the plane indicated by the line 1-4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is an enlarged view in perspective of the scraper shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 and showing the sera er'illustrated in Fig. 3.

T ieouter wall a constituting the Casin of the meter illustrated in Fig. 1 is extendec inwardly so as to divide the interior of the meter and to form a central intermediate chamber b. In the walls of the chamber b may be mounted the rotating turbine wheels c xboth of which are'secured to a common shaftd operatively connected to the registering devices indicated generally at e. The

.turbine wheels care vprotected from injury -of-the central chamrber. b. In the arrange- "ment shown m Fig; 1, the lowermost of these cages f may constitute an end bearing for the actuatm shaft d, while the uppermost cagejff may' 'ave formcdtherein a suitable 'bearing-.to hold the actuating shaft in proper yaxial position."V As is usual'p'm meters of this mon to meters of this general type and it is.

to be understood that the invention to 4be hereinafter set forth is not limitedin its ap'- plication to a water meter embodying the elements` thus far set forth and arranged in the manner illustrated in thedrawings. It.

is believed, however, thatthe foregoing dcscription will conduce to a clearer under standing of the application of the scra 1er.

The construction of the scraper g slhown in Fig. 1 is illustrated in detail in Fig. 5. As shown in the last named figure, the scraper f/ has a relatively sharp edge which stands substantially parallel with tie actuating shaft d so that the foreign substances thrown outwardly from the shaft under centrifugal force toward the turbine blades encounter this shar i edge and are cut and disintegrated there y. The scraper itself may be secured to the inner side of the cage f by means of a suitably threaded stud q2 which may pass through the cage and engage firmly a correspondingly threaded lug g" east ou oneI face of the scraper. By this construction the head of the threaded stud g is always accessible so that the scraper may be removed or secured in position readily. The lug g on the scraper g is preferably disposed angularly with respectthereto so that when the scraper is secured in position it shall be substantially tangential to the stop plate (Z and serve as a detlector, as appears most clearly in Fig. 2. It will be 'evident that by this arrangement the foreign substances, which are thrown outwardly from the actuating shaft (Z under centrifugal action finally encounter the scraper g and by reason of its angularity with respect to the path on which the. substances tend to travel they are dellected inwardly toward the actuating shaft only to repeat their outward travel until broken up sui'liciently to ass between the blades of' the turbine w ieels c. The lower edge of the scraper g is placed in juxtaposition to the upper edges of the blades of the turbine wheels c so that the scraper dislodges the algae and otheiyforeign substances which tend to dra e themselves over the ed es of the'bla es. The bodily dislodging o these forei substances from the upperedges of the lades is accompanied that the constituent arts ofI the substances are ermitted immeciately to pass between the lades fof the wheels ,and be carried onward by vthe flow` of water throughthe outlet az. l

The scraper Ii.'l illustrated is :t0 be very effective in disintegrating substances. Furthermore, as appears from y' a cutting action as well, soA

Iwheel, a slotte Wall andlinclosingt ie wheel, and a substantially diamond-shaped scraper secured to the mounted within the cages f of the central chamber b in substantially the same position as pointed out hereinbel'ore with respect to the scraper g. However, it will appear fronra glanceat Fig. (l that the scraper /L is substantially diamond shaped and is disposed so as topresent an inclined cutting edge/L to the'forcign substances as well as a very sharp cutting point, which luis proven such Eig. 4, -thedcllecting face of the scraper It lis not only substamtally tangential to the stop plate-1d but inclined generally upwardly and outwardly therefrom so as to give the outwardly traveling substances a combined 1nward and upward movement. In this manner the return of these foreign 'substances to the iullowing stream of water is doubly assured so that their subsequent outward travel to succeeding disintegrating engagements with the scraper is assured.

Other modifications in the general forni of the scraper employed will suo-gest theni selves to those skilled in the arttbut all suchehanges in forni are to be deemed within the spirit of this invention provided that they fall within the scope of the claims hereto annexed.

I claim as my invention:

1. In combination with a meter casing having an inlet and an outlet and an apertured inner wall a turbine wheel mounted in said wall an( actuated by the flow of liquid therethrough, a stop plate mounted with the wheel, a slotted cage secured to said inner walland inclosing the wheel, and a scra er removably secuied to the inner wall of tie cage with its lower edge in juxtaposition to the edges of the blades of the turbine wheel, the body of the scraper being d'sposed substantially tangential to the stop ate.

p 2. In combination with a meter casing having an inlet and an outlet and an aperturedinner wall, a turbine mounted in said wall and actuated by the ilow of liquid therethrough, a slotted cage secured to said inner wall and inclosing the wheel, and a scraper secured to the inner wall of the caffe with its lower edge in juxta )osition to tie edges of the blades of the turbine wheel, the body of the scraper being disposed angulai'ly to the u per edges of the blades and :its detleeting ace being inclined upwardly tured 'inner wall, a turbine mounted in said wall and actuated by the flow of liquid therethrough, a sto. plate mounted with the ca re secured to said inner inner wall ofthe cage with its lower edge in This s ecification signed and witnessed jxtnpsitionlto 1thededges of thedblfades o this 6th ay of Muy, A. D. 1913.

t e tur me w 1ee an lits upper an orwar edges meeting in a cutting point in the lpath JAMES M' BURTON' 5 of the material to be disintegrated, the ody Signed in the presence of of the scraper being disposed substantially \V. B. GREELEY,

tangential to the stop plate.` WORTHINGTON CAMPBELL.

Copies et this patent muy be obtained for ave cents non, by addrening the Commissioner o! Patent.

- Wnhixxgton, D. 0. 

